Weighted student funding (WSF) is a multifaceted school finance, management, and governance reform that is gaining attention. While WSF has a number of goals, its primary objective is to redress intra-district funding inequities. This article draws on a mixed-methods study of WSF in Prince George's County Public Schools to examine the initiative's…

This article contributes to the analysis of the global spread of support for school choice and to the understanding of how a particular form of policy development reflects and cements this support. It maps the growing dominance of school choice within a reconfiguration of politics, policy making, and research. To establish the nature of this…

This study examines the institutional factors associated with student loan default. When a college has more than 30% of its students default on their loans, then the institution faces federal sanctions that could make them ineligible from participating in the federal student loan program. Using Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System…

Applying a Multiple Streams framework, the article documents the development and ultimate undoing of what became known as the national sales tax plan for education. The authors identify four factors that coalesced to lead the Nixon administration to propose replacing local property taxes with a federal value-added tax to finance K-12 education.…

Courts hearing school finance reform cases have recently begun to consider several issues related to standards-based accountability policies. This convergence of school finance reform litigation and standards-based accountability policies represents a chance for the courts to reallocate decision-making authority for each type of reform across the…

This article summarizes and evaluates two "Off-the-Shelf" school finance reforms that gained then waned in popularity over the past several years. The 65 percent solution claims that requiring all public school districts to allocate 65 cents of every education dollar "to the classroom" would drive substantial additional resources to children…

This article estimates the costs of school finance adequacy in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. by applying the recommendations from an evidence-based model to the student characteristics of each individual state. Using two different prices, (a) the national average teacher salaries adjusted by a comparable wage index and (b) individual…

Discussions of school finance have been seriously hampered by an inability to relate inputs to student performance. Defining "adequacy" in funding and resources is virtually impossible. There are real problems with U.S. education (declining school performance, enormous school income disparities, and ever-increasing costs) that should be…

Analyzes factors to consider when forging policy linkages among systemic reform, equity, and school finance reform. Discusses concepts of equity and adequacy and their relationship to school finance litigation. Proposes a policy-linkage model that illustrates connections among policy-making bodies, systemic reform initiatives, and various finance…

In a time of declining earnings and increased economic inequality, special education could be an important source of equalizing funding for low-income children. Evidence regarding school resource allocation is used to evaluate the potential effects of increased spending on educational outcomes, required funding levels to meet various goals, and…

Educational equity must be reconceptualized and merged with children's conditions and a broader concept of children's services than schooling. National goals, particularly learning readiness, demand a broader definition of children's finance and equity. School-linked services can be funded by converging existing public and private funding streams…

The potential of educational finance reform to create more uniform, equitable educational opportunities for minorities and low-income students may exceed previous desegregation efforts via court litigation. This article discusses the ability of state-controlled finance reforms to meet a major segregation goal (improved educational quality)…

Statewide finance reform offers a one-time opportunity for overhauling services. Any funding remedy should address improved base funding for low-income schools and investment in programs and practices designed to help schools increase student performance. This article describes a mechanism for using new monies to disseminate effective programs,…

Examines three decades of school finance legislation, highlighting emerging judicial constructs of equity and adequacy. Generally, court decisions have turned on adequacy, rather than equity considerations. There is a broad movement under way to secure, in law and practice, poor children's rights to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination. This…

Explains why Jonathon Kozol's first six books about the need for public education reform have neither penetrated educational curricula nor influenced educational reformists or practitioners. His messages and observations, although sensitive and substantive, vent so much rage and anger that readers run for cover. The exception is "Savage…